Improvement in hinges



UNITED STATES PATENT QEEICE.

JOHN NV. ALLEN, OF NEWARK, NE\V JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN HINGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 53,359, dated March 27, 1866.

To all whom Ait may concern;

Be it known that I, JOHN W. ALLEN, of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Hinges; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

The present invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in hinges, particular] y adapted to those used for hanging blinds and shutters to and upon dwelling-houses, buildings, 85e., and therefore, in the following description, will be explained with reference thereto, although they can be readily applied to hinges used for other and various purposes; and it has for its principal object the locking or fastening of the blind when in a closed or open position, or only partially open, by means of the hinge itself, without necessitating the use of a separate and distinct device therefor, as has heretofore generally been the case. These results I secure by the present invention in an extremely novel and peculiarly simple manner, as will be now fully described, reference being had to the accompanying plate of drawings, in which- Figure l is a View ot' the Lipper edge of the hinge, showing it as applied, and with its leaves in one and the same line; and Fig. 2, a front view of the hinge in the position shown in Fig. l.

A in the drawings represents a hinge, which may be made of brass, iron, or any of the ordinary metals or materials used, and of any desired size and style, having apertures b b b through each of its leaves or sections c and d, for the insertion of screws or other suitable devices for securing them, respectively, to a blind, shutter, or any other desired device, and to the sides of the window-frame.

The leaves of the hin ge are pivoted together as in ordinaryhin ges, the leaf c, or that secured to theblind, swin ging', byits hollow butt g, upon the spindle h of the butt Z of the leaf c, secured to the side of the window, as plainly shown in Fig. 1.

Around the butt l, and projecting therefrom in a horizontal plane or at aright angle to the direction of the same, is formed a circularshaped shoulder-plate or disk, m, which plate extends entirely around the butt, the swinging leaf c being out sufcientlyaway at the proper point to swing entirely around the said disk m. ln this shoulder-plate, and for its entire thickness, are eut two similar radial notches, n and o, one, a, a short distance from the outside face of the stationary leaf and the Other, o, from the swinging leaf when it is opened, or in one and the same line with the other leaf.

1' is a latch-lever, hung by its-arm s at one 0f its ends to and upon the outside face of the swinging leaf, along which it extends, passing through a xed guide or clasp; t, of the same, and engaging at its other end with either one of the two notches of the iixed butt, according as the hinge is either opened or closed, this latch being shown in Fig. l as interlocked with the notch 0. The arm s of the lever-arm is passed through the hinge-leaf and into and through the blind, where, on its inner end, a knob or handle, u, is secured, by grasping which knob with the hand and turning it either to the right or left the latch-lever will be either raised or lowered, and thus disengaged from or interlocked with the notches of the fixed butt, as is evident without further explanation, the clasp t of the hinge-leaf serving as a guide to the latch-lever and preventing it from springing.

The notches in the hinge-butt are intended to be at such points thereof, andare so shown in the drawings, as to enable the latch-lever, when the blind is either opened or closed, to interlock with one of them, whereby, as is 0bvions, the blind will be locked, as it were, and thus rmly so held-opened or closed, according as the case may be-until the latch-lever is irst disengaged from the iixed butt, when the blind can be readily and with the ordinary freedom swung upon its hinges.

By forming a notch in the ixed butt-piece in and between the two points of fastening for the blind when closed and when opened, it is obvious that the blind can then be locked when partially open in a similar manner to that above explained; and more than one intermediate notch may be formed, if desired, to enable the blind to be locked at various angles;

but I do not deem it necessary or best, for if too many are made the strength of the butt would be seriously impaired.

In lieu of forming,` the disk with its notches about the hin gre-butt, as described, for the latch to interlock with, the notches may be formed directly in the butt itself, increasing it, however, slightly in size over the upper butt.

As one of the many advantages resulting from my improved locking blind-hinge may be here mentioned that the unfastening ofthe blind when opened and to be closed can be accomplished Without necessarily reaching to any extent out of the Window, the importance of which is obvious.

JOHN W. ALLEN.

Witnesses:

M. M. LIVINGsToN, G. L. TOPLIFF. 

